Cars percentage of net worth?

[sterlingmossy]

What do you think is reasonable? Financial Samurai says 5% https://www.financialsamurai.com/net-worth-rule-for-car-buying-guideline/.

Sorry if this has been asked and answered. I did try to search.

 

[erkevin]

I don't count vehicles at all in my family's net-worth. When I used to use Mint, it automatically included vehicles as such. However, I no longer use Mint.

 

[Car-Guy]

Gosh, I never really thought about it. Is that for one car or for all an individuals vehicles? I only have two vehicles now but they represent "maybe" ~2% of my NW.


There was a time, not to many years ago, that I probably had 15 to 20% of my NW tied up in cars.

 

[COcheesehead]

Seems high. I am at 1%. I have two nice SUVs. I would have to add a few collector cars to get to 5%.

 

[CardsFan]

Unless you are a car collector, I see my daily transportation as an expense. And since our net worth moves more in a day than the value of both cars, I just don't even look at it. For that matter I don't really look at net worth. Only Invested assets.

 

[dunkelblau]

I'd think this depends on age. I bought a car when I finished school, so on my first day of work it was about 10%. If I had student loans instead of full ride scholarships, it could easily have been negative 10%. For someone on the brink of ER I'd imagine this would typically be between zero and 1%.

 

[Midpack]

A trivial amount, as it should be for a retiree IMHO.

 

[dmpi]

Less than 1% for me but both our cars are over 10 years old.

 

[RobbieB]

I get 1.4%.

2 cars and 2 motorcycles.

 

[SecondCor521]

About a basis point.

 

[rk911]

we count the value of our vehicles in our NW. lessee...4 vehicles with an estimated total value of $125,000. that's roughly 0.16% of our NW. the primary vehicles are 20 and 13-yrs old. my "toy" is 77-yrs old. and we're selling, and not replacing, the motorhome so the % number will be significantly less. you might've guessed that we're not 'car people'.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Less than 1%

 

[scrabbler1]

Less than 0.5%. My car turns sweet 16 in a few weeks.

 

[Gumby]

Three cars total = <1%

we count the value of our vehicles in our NW. lessee...4 vehicles with an estimated total value of $125,000. that's roughly 0.16% of our NW. the primary vehicles are 20 and 13-yrs old. my "toy" is 77-yrs old. and we're selling, and not replacing, the motorhome so the % number will be significantly less. you might've guessed that we're not 'car people'.

If I'm doing the math correctly, that's over $78 million net worth. Why are you hanging out with us?

 

[38Chevy454]

I won't answer since I own 9 vehicles, 5 of them classic. I don't consider vehicles part of NW calculation, even though I have substantial value in them. BTW, I never worry about NW in the first place. Income producing investments and income streams (pensions, SS, etc) do matter. Houses to live in and vehicles don't produce money unless they are sold.

 

[Aerides]

Unless you are a car collector it's meaningless

 

[calmloki]

Two cars, less than 1/2 a percent of our NW. We don't include cars in our NW.

 

[HI Bill]

Cars are typically depreciating assets that you drive for work or fun. Most aren't investments, and I don't include mine in our NW. What I care about is invested assets, which is much more meaningful, as you can't spend your house or car, without taking out loan.

Our car is a 2013 Toyota, and is only 0.3% of our NW (LBYM). That said, I'm thinking of upgrading to a Lexus in the next few years, and the $50K would be about 1.5% of NW.

 

[brett]

Negligible.

2006 Accord. 2007 Solara.

Low-mid 7 figure portfolio.

Perhaps because of the relationship of the ratio of the value of our cars to our portfolio and our home!

Not a big believer in depreciable assets.

We have always viewed automobiles as an expense rather than an asset.

 

[retire48in2018]

Less than 1%.

 

[Al18]

I used to read Financial Samurai years ago. He has some good ideas, but also some wacky idea’s IMHO. He lives in San Francisco and spent some years flipping houses in that inflated market. He was worth a couple million in 2013, and remember how he fretted about buying a new car when his old SUV worked fine. I think he bought a new subcompact Toyota, and was amazed it only got 25 mpg when driving around SF - those are big hills. His mpg wasn’t that good - I think he sold the new car.

In my opinion, if you are retired, then buy whatever car or cars you want. You’ve won the game. Don’t try to justify every expense like a car or a vacation - it will make you crazy. Live your life the way you want.

 

[Ronstar]

A truck, A jeep and a car. 1.7%

 

[Dash man]

Assuming my guesses on the values are correct, about 0.0078%.

 

[sterlingmossy]

we count the value of our vehicles in our NW. lessee...4 vehicles with an estimated total value of $125,000. that's roughly 0.16% of our NW. the primary vehicles are 20 and 13-yrs old. my "toy" is 77-yrs old. and we're selling, and not replacing, the motorhome so the % number will be significantly less. you might've guessed that we're not 'car people'.

With a net worth of $78m you really are not car people

 

[USGrant1962]

Both of our cars are 2018 models. In 2018/2019 they were a little less than 2% of our NW, they are now about 1% due to increase on NW and depreciation of cars.

Pet Peeve Thread Material - it doesn't matter if you "count" cars, they are part of your NW.